america in particular, which is to see a -- a complete change in the -- the structure and the -- the environment in the middle east. with the arab spring came a great deal of hope that there would be a change towards more moderation and opportunity for greater participation on the part of women and -- and public life and in economic life in the middle east. but instead we've seen in nation after nation a number of disturbing events. of course, we see in syria 30,000 civilians having been killed by the military there. we see in -- in libya an attack apparently by -- well, i think we know now by terrorists of some kind against -- against our people there, four people dead. our hearts and minds go to them. mali has been taken over, the northern part of mali, by al- qaeda-type individuals. we have in -- in egypt a muslim brotherhood president. and so what we're seeing is a -- a pretty dramatic reversal in the kind of hopes we had for that region. of course, the greatest threat of all is iran, four years closer to a nuclear weapon. and -- and we're going to have to recognize that we have to do as the